PRESS RELEASE

UN Reports on Saudi Crimes in Yemen

Aug. 26, 2016 (EIRNS)—Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition are responsible for "the single largest part", some 60%, of the 3,799 civilians killed since March 2015, and it has committed other violations that may contravene international law, according to a report issued by the UN High Commission for Human Rights.

"The compensation of the victims is an important element but it is not the only element. We think there should be a kind of accountability and these violations not to be repeated again,"

said Mohammad Ali Alnsour, chief of the Middle East and North Africa section of the UN human rights office in Geneva.

According to the New York Times, the report also cited the use of cluster munitions by Saudi-led coalition forces in residential areas, a "delicate issue" for the United States and Britain, which have supplied billions of dollars of arms and munitions to Saudi Arabia and which have worked with the coalition on its targeting. "The resilience of the Yemeni people has been stretched beyond human limits," the report said. Other nations have "a legal and moral duty to take urgent steps to alleviate the appalling levels of human despair" and to ensure accountability for abuses.

The UN call is not limited to the Saudis, but also includes alleged violations by the Houthis and their allies. All the evidence that is gathered against both sides must then be considered by an appropriate tribunal to determine if crimes have been committed, Alnsour stressed.